46-year-old Mumbaikar successfully treated of 2 congenital heart defects

Doctors at Fortis hospital successfully operated on a 46-year-old man, who was detected with two congenital heart defects that had made it difficult for him to walk and left him bedridden for months.

To figure out the reason behind his breathlessness, Premdar Deshbharatar, a resident of Nagpur, underwent several tests that concluded that he had two congenital heart defects, one of which was a hole in the lower chamber of his heart and the other a profuse leakage in the aorta valve.

"In such cases, it becomes very difficult to save the patient as he has reached an inoperable stage. We conducted a cardiac catheterisation test, which is a pressure study in the heart to check if an operation will improve the overall oxygenation. A valve defect with a hole in the heart is a very unusual combination of two diseases at birth. All treatable birth defects should be treated within a year from birth," said Dr Zakia Khan, interventional cardiologist, Fortis Hospital in Mulund.

A hole in the heart is a birth defect that should be diagnosed at birth. The later the diagnosis, the higher the risk. In case of Deshbharatar, the load on his lungs had increased six times. And because there was a hole in the heart, the blood flow, which is usually from the left chamber to the right chamber, was happening in the reverse order. When the patient was bought to Fortis, Mulund, he was on the margin of being inoperable. There was high leakage in the aortic valve and it had reduced in size.

"We replaced his aortic valve and corrected the hole in the lower chamber of his heart. Also, since this case was extremely critical, post-surgery care was among the most crucial factors in his recovery," said Dr Nilesh Maru, cardiac surgeon, Fortis Hospital, Mulund.